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TESTIMONIALS

Yago de la Cierva

IESE professor. Communication expert

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Short version (4 min.)

“He was a pioneer in creating genuine corporate social responsibility”

This Galician, with a degree in Law and a PhD in Philosophy, is an expert in corporate communication, teaching, and crisis consulting. He had the good fortune to interact with Luis Valls on numerous occasions over long periods and has shared his testimony, emphasizing the area he knows best: his view of Valls as a communicator.

“I learned a lot from Luis Valls; he helped you with his experience,” begins Dr. De la Cierva. He recognizes him as a leading figure and an avid reader knowledgeable about literature, cinema, and theater trends. He asserts that this interest in cultural and intellectual matters led Valls to become interested in communication topics.

He was an innovator in many facets of communication within the bank, but he stood out more in the internal area. While most companies use communication to advertise and promote the institution’s successes, Valls did the opposite: he published mistakes, embezzlements, disloyalties, and errors. He captured this way of understanding internal communication year after year in a document published alongside the bank’s annual report. He called it the “Repertoire of Topics.”

Yago de la Cierva asserts that Valls, through the bank’s existence, inspired many others to want to help. The foundations not only directly helped many people and institutions but also advised on creating and supporting many similar initiatives. Regarding Luis Valls’ philosophy in the foundations, De la Cierva states that it was evident in the foundations that they were the last resort, assisting when all other plans have failed. Additionally, he required that the foundation be one part of the aid, meaning you had to seek the rest of the funding elsewhere to demonstrate that your initiative was viable. He wanted to be your partner.

Transparency was one of the keys to understanding his personality. The communication expert assures that Valls repeatedly said, “Everything must be able to appear on the front page of El País,” meaning all the numbers, aids, loans, and the management of the foundations must be governed by the principle of “total transparency.” At the same time, his interest in ensuring that it was unknown who had given the aid, almost always in the form of a loan, was explicit and well-known because he always sought absolute anonymity for himself, the bank, and the foundations.

Yago asserts that Valls “was a pioneer in corporate social responsibility,” as opposed to CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, “which today has a bad reputation, because it is used more as a marketing tool.” Valls was the exact opposite; he listened to social needs and was the filter to determine the integrity of the project. He would then seek the necessary support from his environment and advisors in order to act. It is fair to point out that he was the first to provide finance “with his salary and his bonus.” This was very different from what is understood today as CSR because the bank did not benefit. De la Cierva states that the brand’s benefit “was non-existent.” As the professor notes, “Valls is on another level.”

The crisis communication expert concludes his account by encouraging everyone to learn more about Luis Valls, a true example of selfless and anonymous help to many people and projects worldwide.

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Extended version (9 min.)

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